Evangelism is not a matter of converting someone to a different belief, it is a matter of welcoming those who are isolated and in need of a community We explore how effective evangelism is based on communicating directly and honestly what our religious community means to us.
Evangelism: Letting Our Love Reach Out
UUA Midsize Congregations Conference 2000
When we talk about the need for Unitarian Universalist evangelism, we hear from people of all ages, all across North America, how they are glad that they found Unitarian Universalism; some of them are so thankful for the friend who invited them, and others are even a little angry that it took so long for them to find us. Most adult UUs were not raised UU, and that has been true for the life of the UUA.
We talk about how people really want to know that your congregation exists in their town. Not every person, but some of them, and they would be better off for knowing it. We say, “Most you had to be invited in, and why wouldn’t you do that for others?” And, many people like and share those posts. Some people comment that they are on board. And, inevitably, there are comments from a smaller number of people who are offended.
Some of them just don’t like the word “evangelism” in spite of it being the right word for the sharing of something good with people who might benefit, especially when the message is of a religious nature. Some even go so far as to oppose the idea that we should be sharing; they hold some strange Calvinist view that the people who “belong” in a UU congregation will be led there by inhuman forces that we should not meddle with (I assume).
The objection that really gets me, though, is the idea that evangelism is somehow antithetical to Unitarian Universalism or an affront to our forebears.
Friends, I promise you that our forebears want us to share our good news, just like they did in their day.
The Universalists had publications named “Evangelical” and “Evangelist”. They were out there, in the 1800s, actively trying to convince people of the Biblical validity, and indeed the superiority of, Universal Salvation. The Universalists were evangelists; they thought it mattered that people knew they were not unclean or unworthy of the love of God! And that is the same spirit that drives us to declare that no one is unworthy of the warmth of community. It is why we insist that our saving faith should not be kept secret from the world. We should be out there, letting people know that liberal religion is alive and it is waiting for those who need it.
I will also point out that UUA.org has many pages that include something on UU Evangelism from the last 20 years, just to prove this is not a new topic. Our association has been telling people for decades that we should be proud of being UUs, of saying that we are UUs, and to let people know how being a UU has improved your life. And, when appropriate, inviting people to ask questions and learn about our liberal faith
It is not only aligned with our values, but it is a moral good to tell people about Unitarian Universalism.
We have fallen into the trap of allowing evangelism to be associated with conversion as opposed to sharing something that is, for us, good news… if we see our churches as a place for fulling those basic human needs for meaning, affiliation, intimacy, depth, then I believe not to be evangelistic is the moral equivalent of not housing the homeless and not feeding the hungry. I don’t know how we can justify our reticence.
The Rev. Peter Morales, 2000
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